First reading
1 Samuel 3:3–10, 19
‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’
Responsorial psalm
Psalm 39(40):2, 4, 7–10
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Second reading
1 Corinthians 6:13–15, 17–20
Do not sin against your own body.
Gospel acclamation
John 1:41, 17
We have found the Messiah: Jesus Christ, who brings us truth and grace.
Gospel
John 1:35–42
‘We have found the Messiah.’
Images from the Word
- Lamb of God
- Come and see
- Rock
- Here I am
- Temple
Liturgical notes
Above all, the Second Vatican Council, which recommended ‘that more perfect form of participation in the Mass by which the faithful, after the Priest’s Communion, receive the Lord’s Body from the same Sacrifice,’ called for another desire of the Fathers of Trent to be put into effect, namely, that for the sake of a fuller participation in the Holy Eucharist ‘at each Mass the faithful present should communicate not only by spiritual desire but also by sacramental reception of the Eucharist’.
—General Instruction of the Roman Missal, §13
It has been a long-standing desire of the Church that the faithful would fully participate in the Mass by receiving Communion at the Mass and that Communion will be from the hosts consecrated at that Mass and not from the tabernacle. In this way, the faithful will be able to exercise their baptismal priesthood by offering and receiving the sacrifice of the Mass.
‘All the earth shall bow down before you, O God, and shall sing to you, shall sing to your name, O Most High!’
—entrance antiphon